Mark English finishes seventh in New York Diamond League

The plan was for Mark English to run one step closer to David Rudisha over 800 metres at the New York Diamond League meeting, although that plan soon fell apart as Rudisha stormed to victory in typically dominating fashion in a season’s best of 1:43.58.

English had finished a close second to Rudisha in the same meeting this time last year, but this time could only manage seventh, his time of 1:46.12 certainly disappointing, given he ran 1:45.85 just a few weeks ago.

Rudisha himself was coming back from a minor injury, but appears to be approaching his very best as the World Championships in Beijing at the end of August slowly come into view.

For English, the European Indoor silver medallist from back in March, the hot but breezy conditions weren’t ideal, and he now turns his attention to next weekend’s European Team Championships, with the Irish team competing in the second tier in Greece.

Usain Bolt also made a rare appearance at a US track meet, the triple Olympic champion racing over 200m, although the big Jamaican clearly has some work to do ahead of Beijing.

Bolt took the win in 20.29 seconds, running into a notable +2.8m headwind, but had the young Zharnel Hughes from Anguilla testing him all the way to the line as he came home second in 20.32.